Monk fruit in lip balm

[GemstonePony]

Ok, after much searching for monk fruit that is only monk fruit without erythritol or other sweeteners, isn't water-based, alcohol-based, or propylene glycol-based, is available to people who don't own a business, is available in amounts less than 20lbs or something outrageous, and is written in English rather than the language it would have to be imported from, and isn't a whole dried fruit (or a lot of them)... This is what I used:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NDP4HZN?ref=pd_basp_dp_primaryIt's a fine tan powder, and it seems the 25% Mogroside V refers to one of compounds in monk fruit, so they presumably have some way of regulating(?) it. (That's not the right word, but I can't think of it right now)
Anyways, steps so far:
-I put 1/8 tsp in 20g avocado oil,
-mixed it,
-heated it up in the microwave to 240°f (Oops!)
-let it cool off for 30 minutes
-forced the oil through a coffee filter

The strained oil is very sweet, and even after I washed my fingers off with dish soap, my fingers tasted sweet. No idea what POSSIBLE use that could have, but FYI. Anyways, only doing a 20g batch of lip balm, and only needed 4 g of the Avocado oil.

... And my timer just went off to take my mixture off the heat, add Vanilla extract and Lavender EO, and pour into tubes. Will report back once I've had a chance to use my finished stuff.

 

[AliOop]

Excellent, thank you for sharing! Can't wait to hear how the lip balms turn out.

My recollection is that mogroside is a sweetness measurement, for lack of the more scientific term.

 

[GemstonePony]

Ok, my lip balms are still chilling, but of course I've tasted my lip balms. The extracts are a bit bitter, which I knew, and 20% of 1/8th tsp isn't a lot of sweetness, but it's enough to balance it out without the lip balm reading sweet or too bitter. I think for future batches, since I'm diluting it down so far, I might either up it to 1/4tsp monk fruit for 20g avocado oil (which is my cheaper liquid oil in the batch, since it doesn't all get through the paper coffee filter), or infuse all the liquid oils with monk fruit, and just accept the loss.
ETA: know what? I'm going to attempt another batch.

 

[GemstonePony]

Well, I tried infusing 1/8th tsp in 5g meadowfoam. It didn't get as warm so it wasn't as strong, and I was only able to get 1.26 g through the paper, so the sweetness level wasn't much higher than last time. I can only use so much lip balm, and I'm getting tired, so I'll resume my experiments another weekend.

 

[GemstonePony]

Oh, @AliOop , one of the new things I was playing with was Cera Bellina wax from WSP
https://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/Cera-Bellina-Wax.aspx#DirectionsIt's a beeswax-derived emulsifier, and it's a tad pricey compared to e-waxes, but it didnt take much to finally get my pesky Vanilla OE to actually incorporate. Not sure if it works with your brand/product goals, but thought I'd mention it.

 

[AliOop]

Thank you for sharing that, GP! I do have trouble getting my vanilla OE and my cacao absolute to incorporate, so if the CB wax might help with that, I will definitely check it out – thank you!

 

[GemstonePony]

Ok, tried another batch with infusing monk fruit in my butters as well as my oils, and I'm absolutely thrilled. There does seem to be a limit to how much sweetness the oils/butters will carry, but it's definitely sweet. I put like nearly a tsp of monk fruit in 66g oils/butters (1/8tsp monk fruit = 2 tsp sugar), so it would have been WAY too sweet if it held on to all of it.
There's no weird aftertaste like what you'd get from stevia, it's more like sugar. It's not quite as sweet as candy, or a lot of commercial lip balms, at least once I put the waxes in, but it's still pretty sweet.
The biggest downside of trying to infuse butters and oils with monk fruit is putting oils and butters through a coffee filter, since you lose materials to the filter, and also oils and butters don't want to go through paper. I end up folding the paper filter at the sides and top to sort of seal it, then using a fork or spoon to carefully squeeze the coffee filter to encourage the liquid towards the bottom and through the paper. In my opinion, it's worth it to ensure a smooth creamy lip balm, but if someone knows an inexpensive way to make this easier, I'd love to hear it.

 

[ToniO]

Ok, tried another batch with infusing monk fruit in my butters as well as my oils, and I'm absolutely thrilled. There does seem to be a limit to how much sweetness the oils/butters will carry, but it's definitely sweet. I put like nearly a tsp of monk fruit in 66g oils/butters (1/8tsp monk fruit = 2 tsp sugar), so it would have been WAY too sweet if it held on to all of it.
There's no weird aftertaste like what you'd get from stevia, it's more like sugar. It's not quite as sweet as candy, or a lot of commercial lip balms, at least once I put the waxes in, but it's still pretty sweet.
The biggest downside of trying to infuse butters and oils with monk fruit is putting oils and butters through a coffee filter, since you lose materials to the filter, and also oils and butters don't want to go through paper. I end up folding the paper filter at the sides and top to sort of seal it, then using a fork or spoon to carefully squeeze the coffee filter to encourage the liquid towards the bottom and through the paper. In my opinion, it's worth it to ensure a smooth creamy lip balm, but if someone knows an inexpensive way to make this easier, I'd love to hear it.

An older post but thank you for posting about your experiments with monk fruit as a sweetener. I'm making lip balms at the moment and came across this while looking at monk fruit as an alternative to stevia.
You've probably already answered your query about a better alternative to paper filters since, but I use 400 mesh filters these days to filter out all my infusions and they work really well. You can buy them on Amazon, usually 2 for $10. I just bought some 400 mesh nylon fabric to make some larger ones that will be squeezable for less loss of oil, for myself.